A/N: So, I thought I might give you a glimpse of the ship if any of you guys couldn't quite recall how the decks and such were laid out. I also figured it'd help you picture the scene I'm attempting to lay out before you in this chapter. Kana is turning out to be more of a... flexible/athletic person that I initially imagined her to be. :3

After their departure, when the supplies had finally all been put in their individual spots, the news began to spread around. The entrance to the Grand Line was only around a three day's sail from the island they'd just left. Which meant they had barely any time until they found themselves in the most dangerous waters of the world. 

Despite her initial complaints, the expression that Kana wore seemed to say that those days couldn't pass soon enough. This also happened to be the reason that whenever someone needed her attention on something, be it a pipe making a strange noise, or a leaking faucet, it became increasingly difficult to locate the girl. By the time that they were all aware that the entrance should be coming into view at any moment, she was no where to be found. Or at least, no where that Law initially thought to check.

Law, to his credit, took a deep breath upon receiving this news, simply gripping the tip of his hat and giving it a small tug. This gesture was quickly becoming a habit, a way of dealing with the irritation that seemed to occur whenever he had to deal with the girl. His initial question of whether she'd be too soft for the sea seemed laughable at this point, the girl was brasher than the majority of the crew. Not to mention more irritable and strong-headed. 

"So you have no clue where she is...?" he questioned slowly. 

The crew-member, a boy by the name of Kyou, sheepishly scratched his cheek. Being one of the few who could handle being around the girl by choice for longer than an hour in the excited state she'd been in, he'd become the go-to person for locating her. At the inquisitive brow raise that he received in response to his sheepishness, the boy dropped his hand, his mouse brown bangs falling back into place over his tanned skin. 

"Ah, well... she did say she wanted ta get a better view of the sea," he admitted. "Ya haven't checked out on deck yet, right?"

"I was heading there next," Law replied simply.

With the shorter crew-member tagging along at his side, Law started down the hall. When he emerged out onto the highest deck, his eyes skimmed the wood, noting that there wasn't a single frizzy haired blonde in sight. Just as he was about to turn and and check a lower level, Kyou caught his arm, that sheepish expression returning to his face. 

"Ah... Cap'n?" 

"What?" 

"I think I foun' her..." 

Following Kyou's line of sight, Law cocked his head back to catch sight of the girl they were looking for standing atop the highest piece of the ship, her arm hooked around the mast and holding her in place. The two of them simply stared for a moment, neither one able to come up with exactly how Kana managed to get up there. Law, easily piecing together her path after giving it some thought, followed suit a moment later. Propelling himself onto the railing, he easily pulled himself up from there to the same level where she stood. Hearing him join her, Kana turned around, her face lit up with excitement. 

"Cap'n, look at this!" she shouted. "Look!" 

Spinning about once again, she gave a large gesture towards the sea ahead of them. Law, well aware that scolding her for being in a spot that wasn't exactly meant to stand on would wield little result, joined her on the opposite side of the mast and peered out into the distance. It only took a moment to see what she was so excited about, his own breath being stolen at the sight. 

Reverse Mountain- the entrance to the Grand Line- was just barely visible in the distance. It wasn't a sight unfamiliar to Law, but it was one that caused him to pause for a  moment nonetheless. Their adventure was about to begin... 

His hand almost unconsciously fell to his katana, memories flashing through the back of his mind. One face in particular lingered, his emotions falling into what could simply be described as cold determination. 

"Can ya believe it?" Kana demanded, snapping him from his thoughts. "Can ya? It's a mountain, clear as day! Look how big tha' thing is!"

He blinked a few times before simply rolling his eyes and turning about, heading for the edge of the surface they stood on. With Reverse Mountain within their sight, they needed to prepare. Once they reached the mountain there was no turning back, the current would steal any chance of that from them.

"That's what I wanted you for. Entering the Grand Line is difficult on it's own. You need to make sure everything's perfect before we reach the mountain."

As he slipped back down to deck, he cocked his head back, just barely catching sight of the grin on her lips and the mocking salute she sent his way. 

"Will do! I ain't gonna let some chunk a rock keep us from seein' the other side of it!" she announced. "Ya can coun' on me!" 

___________________________________

The first indication they'd hit the mountain came with the sudden lurching of the ship that sent Kana tumbling from her perch in the piping of the submarine. Once she'd finished her inspection of the ship and had decided they had no concerning leaks, she'd once again remembered the complaint from one of the crew members that the shower was always running out of hot water. Kana, forgetting to report to Law about her inspection, had proceeded to locate the source of the problem and sling herself through the tangle of pipes until she found the single, troublesome connection. 

The flood of curses that escaped her lips as she hit the floor would have been enough to raise a few eyebrows if the majority of the crew hadn't already been out on deck, eager to see how exactly climbing the mountain would work. To her credit, Kana quickly put two-and-two together and- while ruefully rubbing the small of her back- darted through the mess of halls until she'd emerged onto the main deck. 

"To the left, we're drifting too close to the-"

At that same moment she emerged, the ship slammed into the side of one of the gateways, sending a spray of water over the deck. 

"Get another man on the controls!" Law shouted.

The deck was understandably, practically deserted, a majority of the crew in the guts of the submarine controlling the ship itself. Law, wanting a better view of what was going on than what the viewport could provide due to the constant spray of saltwater the current was tossing up, had made his way to the main deck as well.

A grin touching her lips, Kana shoved the her now soaked strands of hair from her face as she eagerly made her way to the front, almost hanging off the railing as she stared ahead of them. Her hands, showing that she at least had a little sense, clasped the metal rail so tightly that the tips of her knuckles turned white. She was well aware that when Law shouted for someone to get the controls, he wasn't talking about her. Her skills with the actual navigation of the ship itself had become infamous within the first week after they'd set sailing. She herself had no problem with the fact she'd been requested to keep her hands off all of the navigational tools unless they were broken, seeing as odds were if they weren't, she'd be certain to make them that way.

"Damn, look a' tha'!" she shouted. "Jus' look!"

The crash against the gate had thrust the sub into the middle of the current, which was rapidly shooting them up the side of the mountain. As several of the crew members struggled with getting the ship to stick to the center of the current, the force of their ricochet off the first gate sent them slamming into the second, another crash of water flooding the deck. Just barely keeping herself from tumbling overboard, Kana spun around, one hand braced against the railing as her other kept her goggles in place atop of her now, slick hair. Her eyes zeroed in on the den den mushi in Law's hands.

"'ey, watch it! Are ya tryin' ta tear us ta bits?" she demanded. "Ge' ahol' of tha' thing! Da ya need me ta come down there or somethin'?" 

Law, having been about to say something along the same lines, although perhaps in a less crude manner, closed his mouth to shoot the snail a curious glance as if it would reveal to him what was going on beneath the deck. At the threat of her attempting to help, the crew manning the controls  seemed to suddenly grow energized, finally managing to catch them completely in the center current. Seemingly pleased with herself, Kana spun around to face the path once again. Her eyes lighting up with unconcealed excitement, she practically climbed onto the railing, her hand still clasping her goggles in place so that the force of the wind didn't rip them from her head. 

The men at the controls slumped in their seats. With their job having passed, they could only feel relieved at somehow having managed to make it past the danger that came with getting caught on the gates. After all, anyone who'd taken the time to learn about Reverse Mountain knew that getting past the gates themselves happened to be the first trial of the Grand Line, many prospective sailors of the line met their death torn to pieces by the force of the current and the unforgiving stone.

Kyou, noting the fact that if no one got Kana under control she very well might be pitched over the railing if the ship happened to strike anything on the way up, peeled himself away from the other members and made his up to the deck, catching the railing or wall whenever the pitch of the sub would almost cause him to lose his footing. Once he'd made it to her side he caught the back of her shirt with one of his scrawny arms, his other hand gripping the railing fiercely. 

"Are you crazy?" he demanded. 

"Maybe," she replied, paying little attention to him as she released one of her hands from the rail to gesture around them. "Look'a tha', we're in the clouds!" 

As Kyou nodded agreeably and continued in his attempt to drag her back onto solid footing, Law, taking the path up to the front much easier than Kyou had done, grasped the railing on her other side and watched the water as it rushed past them. A moment later, he tensed slightly, studying the tip of the mountain as it came into view. 

"There it is," Kyou announced, caught up in Kana's excitement despite himself. 

Within a second of Kyou's announcement, the ship was suddenly thrown into the air with the force of the sudden turn of the current. All three were suspended for just a moment, Kyou scrambling to grab ahold of Kana's hand to keep her from flying overboard, before crashing back onto the hard deck. While Kana burst out laughing from the experience, Kyou settled into a series of curses, perhaps to hide the fact that his face had gone pure white at how close the single moment gone to sending both of them overboard. He wasn't fond of the idea of falling into the water- not one bit. 

Law, his hand having crushed his hat to the top of his head, simply drug himself back to his feet as his eyes settled on the view up ahead of them. Within a minute of his hand touching the railing they had cleared the clouds, the open sea appearing ahead of them. 

They'd entered the Grand Line.